Online boost for William Hill

With reference to the results and the company’s policy of diversification and “careful expansion”, William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping said: "This transformation accelerated in the last 12 months with the group establishing a second home market in Australia through the acquisitions of Sportingbet and tomwaterhouse.com and acquiring the 29 per cent of William Hill Online controlled by Playtech, while maintaining an appropriate capital structure through a well-supported us$ 621.8 million (net) rights issue and a us$ 625.2 million corporate bond issue.

“As a result, our online and Australia activities accounted for around half our operating profit and international markets contributed 15 per cent of net revenue in 2013.”

"Online's sportsbook performance continues to be sparkling,” said Topping, “with staking levels up around 400 per cent over the five years since the start of 2009.

“Mobile represents 39 per cent of sportsbook wagering in 2013. We put greater focus behind mobile gaming in 2013 and have made good progress in bringing our offer up to match the high standards we've set with our sportsbook.”

He continued: "Importantly, retail remains resilient, despite the ongoing squeeze on our core customer base's discretionary spend and the large-scale expansion of online and mobile in the UK.”